The Last of Us gets a release date, box art, new trailer, and pre-order bonuses

The Last of Us was announced at last year’s Spike Video Game Awards so it was only appropriate that at this years VGA’s, the second The Last of Us trailer was debuted. It also told us what we all really, really wanted to know: when the game is coming out. That date, the day we get to finally play one of the most highly awaited PS3 games of the year, will be May 7, 2013.

Uncharted developer, Naughty Dog, has created a trailer that’s designed to impart upon you a hint of the story without giving too much away — and it certainly does a great job of that. If you haven’t read about it before, The Last of Us is a third-person survival game in which a strange fungus has infected most of the human race. You play as Joel and are accompanied by a teenage girl, Ellie, who’s controlled by the AI. From the trailer, it’s clear The Last of Us is going to be a very emotional game and very story-driven.

If The Last of Us looks good to you, you can pre-order it now and get some nice incentives for doing so. Participating retailers are offering a bonus pack called Sights and Sounds which gets you the official soundtrack, a PS3 dynamic theme and two PSN avatars (one of Ellie and one of Joel). Or if multiplayer mode bonuses are more your thing, you can order with GameStop to get the Survival pack. The Survival pack includes: bonus experience points for multiplayer, a melee attack booster, extra starting cash, special customization character items and two special bonus skins for Joel and Ellie which are unlocked after you complete the game.

Naughty Dog isn’t ready to reveal what the multiplayer modes involve yet but Uncharted 3‘s multiplayer is great fun so I’m sure they’ve got something good up their sleeves. A lot of people think games like this don’t need multiplayer but Naughty Dog has assured fans that two separate teams work on the story mode and multiplayer. This means the story shouldn’t suffer, which is good news for everyone.